


Drowning

by Sharpe1502



Category: Last Jedi, Star Wars
Genre: Cliff Scene, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 21:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12141972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharpe1502/pseuds/Sharpe1502
Summary: A one shot of Rey drowning after falling into the ocean during a duel with Kylo Ren. Is this the end or the start of a new life?





	Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> This is only my second fanfiction and my first one shot. Hope you like it! :)

Rey had never imagined death. Nothing could have prepared her for the deafening silence. The only sound that she could discern was the erratic pounding of her heart in her ears. She had just stopped thrashing her arms and felt her body sinking further and further under the black waves of Ach-To. 

Her saber was still gripped tightly in her hand and she clung to it as if it was life itself. Even though her chest was hurting from holding her breath for so long, she refused to release it out of sheer stubbornness. Her vision was failing her as she watched the moon dancing from above. 

Finally, when she couldn't hold it anymore, she breathed out. Instinct told her to breathe in. She needed to breathe in. But her brain told her that doing so would mean the end. 

She had never felt so heavy and weightless at the same time. Her chest was aching and her limbs were starting to jerk on their own. 

Part of her felt sad. She wouldn't see Finn again. Luke would blame himself. No one would mourn her other than those two, maybe General Organa. She hadn't known her long enough. 

The memories of a voice saying, "I'll come back sweetheart" echoed in her head. She would never see them again. 

The need to breathe was becoming less and less. Her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was trying to push her toward the surface on its own. She was going to die. This was it. She was going to sink to the bottom of this ocean and be forgotten. 

Something grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up with so much force it almost hurt. Were her mind working, she would panic. At least it'll be over quicker, her mind thought absentmindedly. She didn't mind being eaten. 

It wasn't until something hard and metal was being shoved into her mouth that she snapped out of it. Her eyes grew wide when she saw a long, pale face peering into hers. He had his hand around her and was pressing something against her mouth. 

Instinctively, she gasped. Instead of water filling her lungs, a refreshing gush of air filled them and it reinvigorated her entire body. She took three big gulps. As she did it, she watched her enemy expertly swim toward the service. His cheeks puffed up as he fought against exhaling. 

Knowing that she would surely die if he drowned, she removed the lifesaving piece of metal from her mouth and nudged his shoulder with it. 

He looked at her and took it, inhaling deeply for a couple breaths before giving it back to Rey. 

The two of them seemed to reach the surface of the water much more quickly than it had taken her to sink. The second her lips broke through the waves, they both gasped. Rey choked on the water that she had accidentally inhaled through the ordeal and laid still while Kylo Ren pulled her toward the island. The sea seemed to help him and the current brought them to the shallows within minutes. 

Once her feet felt rocks, Rey tried to stand but couldn't. Kylo half crawled, half yanked Rey out of the ocean before collapsing. For a long while, they both panted and neither spoke. 

A thought occurred to Rey and she checked her hand to make sure her saber was still there. When she saw that she had managed to hold onto it, she let her head fall back against the rock with a thud and a sigh. 

It was Kylo Ren who broke the silence, "Are you okay?"

She tilted her head to look at him in disbelief. She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating from swallowing ocean water or if she was just imagining it. 

"What?" She asked. 

He lifted his head and gave her an inquiring look. "Are you okay?" 

She looked at him, then looked back up the steep cliff where the two of them had been fighting not a few minutes earlier. 

"You kicked me off the cliff," she said, her voice vacant. 

He sat up slowly, grunting in pain as he did so. "I'll take that as a yes."

She stared at her enemy in confusion. "You saved me." She could feel her eyes growing wide. "Why did you do that?" 

"Would you have preferred to drown?" he asked, the rain pelting against him as he spoke. 

"Where's Luke?" She asked. 

He sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Probably killing my men."

Rey gripped her saber tighter, "You don't sound that concerned." 

"I came here for you. They came here for him."

Once again, his words caught her off guard, and all she could say was, "What?"

"You don't feel it?" he asked. "I've tried to do nothing these past months but to try to force myself to hate you. Or I tried not to think about you at all. It proved impossible." 

He inched closer toward her, "I came here tonight with every intention of ending whatever this thing is between us. Whatever this bond is. The minute it seemed like I was about to succeed, I realized that I didn't want to."

Rey was speechless, but she didn't like this. She didn't like hearing him talk like this. She didn't want him to. It would mean that what she had been feeling since Star Killer Base had been real. She hadn't imagined any of it. 

"I can't," she whispered. 

"Can't what?" He asked. 

She crawled backward away from him. "I can't do this. Get away from me!" 

As she was about to get up, Kylo reached and grabbed her hand, stopping her. The gesture wasn't antagonistic and his touch was light.

"Stay with me," he begged. 

She turned to face him, astonished. "We were just trying to kill each other."

"I can't kill you. If you still have it in you, then kill me. Snoke will not accept another failure and Luke will be only too happy to see me dead." He pulled her closer and reached for her hand with the saber. He lifted it and pointed the blade end toward his chest. "Do it. End this."

Rey's thumb ran over the activator gently. "Do it," she thought. She never took her eyes off of him. It was dark and the rain made it difficult to see. But she could feel him. His hands were still gripping her as they sat kneeling on a rock beside the sea. 

She could sense him. He was as conflicted as she remembered, but there was a strength to him that he had been lacking during their last encounter. But there was also sadness that made her own heart ache just to encounter it. Underneath all of it, there was something else. Hope, tenderness perhaps? She almost felt frustrated when she couldn't feel anger or malice. It would've been much easier. 

Her mind made up, she opened her fingers and allowed the light saber to drop to the ground with a clank. She could sense his surprise and elation. 

He released her hand and brought his own hand up to rest on her cheek. He ran a thumb over her cheekbone and Rey could feel her body shiver, whether it was from being cold or from excitement, she couldn't tell. 

Something inside of her stirred and without warning, she leaned forward and blindly placed her lips on his mouth. He flinched in shock but recovered quickly and pulled her closer. She could feel his hand wrap around her hair, his fingers getting tangled in her wet hair in the process. 

She brought her own hands up to cradle his face as the kiss grew in intensity. It had started off chaste enough, but now her mouth was open and his tongue was touching her own. 

The excitement of the kiss warmed them both immediately and any thought of Luke, or the other warriors, or the rebellion faded away to unimportance. 

When they finally broke off the kiss, they were both panting again. Kylo gently laid his forehead against her own, and she could hear a breathy laugh escape his lips. 

"Come with me," he said. 

"Where?" Rey asked, concerned he was trying to recruit her to Snoke. 

"Anywhere," he said. "You and I. Let's leave it all. Let's go where no one knows who we are and where the First Order has no power." 

Rey had several preservations, but something in her gut was telling her to go. Still, she felt worried, "What if they look for us." 

He chuckled, "We'll be too far gone. They'll never find us. If they do, you'll wave your hand and tell them they didn't see anything."

Rey couldn't help but smile at the thought. Kylo wrapped his arms around her and hugged her closely. "I gave up my family. You're the only family I need," he whispered. 

Rey closed her eyes and thought about it hard. Maz once told her that the belonging she seemed was not behind her, it was ahead. 

Without hesitation, she opened her eyes and whispered, "What are we waiting for? Let's go."


End file.
